SUPER BOWL XXX;Rookie Prefers a Place In the Distant Spotlight

As the Steelers' first-round draft pick, Mark Bruener found himself at the center of attention when Pittsburgh went to training camp last summer.

The Steelers had lost their dominant tight end, Eric Green, to Miami as a free agent. Bruener was supposed to fill the void left by the departure of Green, who had been a high-profile player and a major component in the power offense.

There were a lot of comparisons when they did draft me," Bruener said today. "When Eric Green went down to Miami there were a lot of questions about me. Will Mark Bruener be able to fill Eric Green's shoes? Will he be able to do this and can he do that? At times it got annoying. I felt the pressure at the beginning of the season."

Then the Steelers slipped to 3-4 and along came another rookie -- the second-round draft pick Kordell Stewart -- and Bruener found himself out of the spotlight.

Stewart's multidimensional offensive skills (receiver and quarterback) have turned him into the Steelers' high-profile rookie.

Bruener, an all-Pacific 10 selection who holds the career record for catches as a tight end at Washington, does not begrudge Stewart his celebrity. Maybe that's because Bruener has a distinction that Stewart does not: He will be the starting tight end in Super Bowl XXX when the Steelers line up against the Cowboys at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz.

"I feel that every angle Kordell has created for himself and all the hype that's been going on around him, he deserves it," Bruener said. "Kordell is obviously a very talented person. He's shown that in the times he's been playing.

"I personally don't mind all the attention going to him. I'm not a person who needs to be in the limelight or desires to have my picture in the paper every day. I'm just a guy who goes to work and does his job. I know if I'm doing well or doing bad. I don't need my name in the headlines.

"I don't really talk to Stewart about what it's like to get all that attention. I'm more like, 'Do you ever get a moment's peace?' Kordell and I are good friends. He has created everything and I'm glad he's done it. He enjoys the limelight that he's receiving, but then again he wants to be a regular person."

While Stewart has emerged as a flashy threat, Bruener has developed into a steady weapon. He is fifth on the team in receiving with 26 catches for 238 yards and 3 touchdowns.

"He plays all three tight end positions," Pat Hodgson, the Steelers' tight end coach and a former Giants aide, said of Bruener. "He's learned all the third-down packages with the four and five wideouts. He inherited all the special teams and plays on those. He's got the whole load.

"Probably the biggest compliment to him is that he hasn't been noticed one way or the other. You can get noticed for doing good things and bad things. It's been fun."

Bruener's presence has changed the way the Steelers utilize the position and has also altered the way they work the passing game. Last season Green was second on the team in receptions with 46 catches and first in receiving yards with 618 and 4 touchdowns. But Hodgson said the team had started to experiment with the tight end spot last season.

"We learned last season that we could sit Eric down and we could play the three and four wideouts," Hodgson said.